Troubleshooting

Debug Dashboard (Insights)

The debug dashboard provides real-time insight into your battery control system’s decision-making process, without having to scroll through Home Assistant and Node-RED. Use it to understand why your system behaves a certain way or to diagnose issues.

Note: more an insights tool than a debug tool

It shows known issues, but is not a full debug tool. Unforseen crashes still require inspection via Node-RED. Also de Node-RED logs can be useful, e.g. http://homeassistant.local:8123/hassio/addon/******_nodered/logs

How to Use Debug Mode

1. Activate: Navigate to the Debug tab in your Home Assistant dashboard and toggle Debug Mode on via the chip in the top
2. Monitor: The system will immediately start logging detailed information about:
   • Which strategy flows are executing and in what order
   • How long each flow takes to complete (in seconds)
   • Why batteries are being charged, discharged, skipped, or stopped
   • Price comparisons for dynamic strategies
   • PID controller calculations and decisions
3. Disable: when done or to review the state in calm and quiet.
4. Auto-disable: Debug mode automatically turns off after 5 minutes to prevent performance degradation.

What You’ll See

Flow Trace (Execution Timeline)

• Shows which Node-RED flows executed, in order, with timestamps (HH:MM:SS.mmm)
• Displays total execution time at the bottom
• Use this to verify your strategy is executing as expected

Log Messages (Detailed Explanations)

• Color-coded by severity: 🔧 Log (green), ℹ️ Info (teal), ⚠️ Warning (orange), ❌ Error (red)
• Shows up to 100 recent log entries
• Each entry includes: timestamp, flow name, node name, and explanation

Common Troubleshooting Scenarios

“Why isn’t my battery charging/discharging?”

• Enable debug mode and wait for one execution cycle
• Check the log for messages about your specific battery (e.g., “Battery M1”)
• Look for skip reasons: SoC limits reached, RS485 not enabled, or strategy conditions not met

“Why did the strategy switch?”

• Check the log for strategy switching messages
• For dynamic strategy: look for price delta comparisons showing whether the threshold was met
• For timed strategy: verify current time falls within configured periods

“System seems slow or unresponsive”

• Check the Flow Trace total execution time
• Normal execution: < 0.5 seconds
• Slow execution: 0.5 - 1.0 seconds (review system load)
• Very slow: > 1.0 seconds (check Node-RED CPU usage and network connectivity)
  • Or lower the rate limit on the Home Battery Start flow using the msg/s nodes in the Rate Limit group

“PID controller acting erratically”

• Enable debug mode during active control
• Review PID-related log entries showing input error, P-term, I-term, D-term values
• Check for messages about deadband or hysteresis affecting behavior
• Verify grid power sensor is updating correctly (check timestamps, the interval should be regular steps of > 0.5 sec.)

Other Common Issues

The controller barely responds and (dis)charges only with a few Watts

Answer: Check if the P1 input is in Watt and not in kW.

I get an error "HomeAssistantError: Invalid value for input_number.house_battery_control_pid_output: 16743 (range -15000.0 - 15000.0)"

Answer:

• Check battery max (dis)charge values. Are these correct?
• If your converter/batteries allows over 15kW of charging, adjust the limits in home assistant\input_numbers\input_number_house_battery_control.yaml

Modbus error function code: 0x3 exception: 2 (or similar)

When connecting LilyGo or similar to Marstek Venus V3 Answer:

• Update the latest firmware on your battery

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